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Y 


F.  P.  A. 


Pamphlet  No.  24 
Series  of  1923-24 


The  Case 
Against  Heroin 


1.  Heroin  is  unnecessary  in  the  practice  of 
medicine. 

2.  Heroin  destroys  all  sense  of  moral  re- 
sponsibility. 

3.  Heroin  is  the  drug  of  the  criminal. 

4.  Heroin  recruits  its  army  from  youth. 

5.  Heroin  can  be  eliminated  only  by 
international  action. 


Prepared  by  the 


COMMITTEE  ON  TRAFFIC  IN  OPIUM 


of  the 


Foreign  Policy  Association 


— • NATIONAL  HEADQUARTERS 

NINE  EAST  FORTY-FIFTH  STREET 

NEW  YORK 


Resolution  Passed  by  the  Fifth  Session  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions Advisory  Committee  on  Traffic  in  Opium,1  at 
Geneva,  May- June,  1923. 

“In  view  of  the  existing  medical  evidence  tending  to  show  the 
possibility  of  completely  doing  away  with  the  use  of  heroin  in 
medical  and  surgical  practice,  the  Advisory  Committee  on  Traffic 
in  Opium  recommends  the  Council : 

(a)  To  request  each  Government  to  appoint  a 
committee  of  enquiry  with  a view  to  ascertaining 
the  possibility  of  completely  abolishing  the  manu- 
facture of  heroin  and  its  use;  and 

( b ) In  the  event  of  the  committees  of  enquiry 
deciding  that  the  manufacture  of  heroin  cannot  be 
be  done  away  with  entirely,  to  enquire  into  the  pos- 
sibility of  its  use  being  limited  to  certain  types  of 
cases,  or  any  particular  type  of  case. 

The  Chairman  thought  that  the  Committee  should  ask  each 
Government  for  its  opinion  on  this  question.  The  proposal  could 
be  drafted  in  the  form  of  a recommendation  to  the  Council. 
Governments  could  be  invited  to  make  an  enquiry  in  their  own 
countries  and  send  the  result  to  the  Secretariat. 

The  Chairman’s  proposal  was  adopted.” 


1 The  American  delegation  consisted  of  Stephen  G.  Porter,  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  House;  Bishop  Charles  Brent,  President  of  the  Com- 
mission that  drafted  the  Opium  Convention  of  1912  at  The  Hague;  Dr.  Rupert  Blue, 
former  Surgeon-General  of  the  Public  Health  Service,  Washington,  D.  C. 


The  Case  Against  Heroin 

Heroin  Can  Be  Eliminated  Only  By  International  Action 


dERICA  leads  the  civilized  world  in  one  unenviable  record — crime. 


In  1922,  seventeen  murders  were  committed  in  London  and  260  in 


JL  jL.New  York  City  in  the  same  period.1  The  suppression  of  heroin, 
which  is  peculiarly  the  drug  of  the  criminal,  is  therefore  a matter  of  vital 
interest  to  the  United  States. 

Only  through  international  cooperation,  however,  can  heroin  be  effec- 
tively suppressed.  Smuggling  over  the  border  is  only  too  simple  a matter. 
Unless  its  manufacture  is  everywhere  abolished,  therefore,  it  will  be  im- 
possible to  rid  ourselves  of  this  menace. 

The  channel  for  this  necessary  international  action  has  recently  been 
supplied  by  the  Council  of  the  League  of  Nations,  which  has  adopted  the 
resolution  printed  on  the  opposite  page  calling  on  all  governments  to  in- 
quire into  ways  and  means  of  completely  abolishing  the  manufacture  and 
use  of  the  drug.  This  request  is  now  before  our  Department  of  State. 

In  the  following  pages  will  be  found  evidence  from  eminent  author- 
ities to  the  effect  that 

1.  The  average  age  of  heroin  victims  may  be  fixed  at  from  twenty-five 
to  twenty-seven  years. 

2.  In  New  York  City,  98  per  cent  of  the  criminal  drug  addicts  use  heroin. 

3.  Criminologists  the  world  over  agree  that  most  of  the  violent  crimes 
may  be  laid  at  the  doors  of  heroin  addicts. 

4.  Heroin  is  declared  by  medical  authorities  to  be  unnecessary  in  the 
practice  of  medicine. 

What  more  satisfactory  response,  then,  could  be  given  to  the  request 
of  the  Council  of  the  League  than  to  enact  a law  abolishing  the  manu- 
facture of  this  highly  dangerous  and  unnecessary  drug? 

There  are  only  four  great  drug  manufacturing  countries — Germany, 
Switzerland,  England  and  America.  If  the  United  States  takes  the  lead 
in  abolishing  heroin,  it  would  carry  enormous  weight  with  medical  opinion 
in  the  other  three  countries.  It  can  take  the  lead,  if  the  movement  to 
legislate  heroin  out  of  existence  has  the  backing  not  only  of  the  medical 
opinion  in  the  country,  but  of  the  various  organizations  who  should  be 
aroused  to  the  paramount  importance  of  eliminating  this  evil. 

The  elimination  of  this  one  drug  would  so  improve  the  narcotic  situ- 
ation in  our  own  country — particularly  where  it  touches  the  criminal 
addict  (our  most  dangerous  problem) — that  it  would  justify  the  most 
vigorous  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  making 
illegal,  in  this  country,  any  use  of  heroin ; and,  in  cooperation  with  the 
League  of  Nations  Advisory  Committee  on  Opium,  in  clearing  up  the 
international  situation  and  so  preventing  the  illegitimate  supply,  through 
smuggling,  of  this  highly  dangerous  drug. 

1 N.  Y.  Times , Aug.  30,  1923. 


3 


FACTS  REGARDING 

INTERNATIONAL  CONTROL  OF  HEROIN 


Heroin  and  Crime 

“We  committed  last  year  from  this  office  about  nine  hundred  drug 
addicts  and  I should  say  that  98  per  cent  are  users  of  heroin.  Very  rarely 
do  we  run  across  a case  where  the  addict  is  taking  morphine  or  cocaine.” 

William  McAdoo,  Chief  City  Magistrate, 

New  York  City,  New  York, 

February  3,  1923. 

“I  feel  that  in  medical  practice  heroin  is  a dangerous  drug,  and  if 
possible  to  be  obtained  by  drug  addicts,  it  is  even  more  dangerous,  as 
it  combines  the  stimulating  qualities  of  cocaine  with  the  sedative  effects 
of  morphine.”  Dr.  s Dana  Hubbard, 

Director,  U.  S.  Bureau  Public  Health  Education, 

February  9,  1923. 

“Heroin  cuts  off  the  sense  of  responsibility,  in  the  moral  sense,  much 
quicker  than  morphine.  It  destroys  the  sense  of  responsibility  to  the 
herd.  Heroin  addicts  will  more  quickly  commit  crime  and  with  no  sense 
of  regret  of  responsibility  for  it.  The  herd  instinct  is  obliterated  by 
heroin,  and  the  herd  instincts  are  the  ones  which  control  the  moral  sense, 
in  the  sense  of  responsibility  toward  others  and  the  environment  in  gen- 
eral. Heroin  obliterates  responsibility  the  same  as  cocaine,  and  it  makes 
much  quicker  the  muscular  reaction,  and  therefore  is  used  by  criminals  to 
inflate  them  because  they  are  not  only  more  daring,  but  their  muscular  re- 
flexes are  quicker.  j)R  Alexander  Lambert,  Attending  Physician, 

Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York. 

“Probably  75  per  cent  of  the  drug  users  admitted  to  prison  take  heroin. 
Heroin  is  the  main  problem,  in  my  mind.  Heroin  produces  an  effect  on 
the  personality  so  that  all  respect  is  lost.”  1 

Dr.  Amos  Squire,  Chief  Physician, 

Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York. 

“I  think  criminologists  the  world  over  will  tell  you  that  the  violent 
crimes  are  the  ones  that  are  committed  by  heroin  addicts.”  1 

Dr.  Bundesen, 

Commissioner  of  Health,  Chicago,  111. 

“A  study  of  the  statistics  in  New  York  County  alone  indicated  that, 
whiile  the  evil  in  so  far  as  the  use  of  morphine,  cocaine  and  opium  was  a 
serious  one,  the  whole  three  of  them  put  together  were  not  nearly  as  ser- 
ious as  the  growth  of  the  heroin  habit.  The  heroin  habit  has  grown  to 
textremely  large  proportions  in  a way  that  was  absolutely  appalling,  dis- 
tressful not  only  to  the  well-being  of  those  addicted,  but  to  the  well-being 
of  the  State,  because,  if  permitted  to  continue  in  the  degree  in  which  it 
has  taken  root,  it  would  threaten  very  dire  results  and  conditions  which 
would  call  for  general  public  activity.”  2 

1 Hearing’s  before  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  House  of  Representatives,  Sixty- 
seventh  Congress  Fourth  Session,  on  the  Resolutions,  H.  J.  Res.  430  and  H.  J.  Res.  453,  Feb. 
13-16,  1923. 

2 Page  9,  “The  Drug  Evil  and  the  Drug  Law,”  by  Cornelius  F.  Collins,  former  Judge 
of  the  Children’s  Court.  (Department  of  Health,  City  of  New  York.) 

4 


Heroin  and  Youth 


“At  the  age  of  sixteen  even,  there  were  no  drug  addicts  for  three 
months  in  Special  Sessions.  Yet,  as  if  nature  drew  a line,  from  sev- 
enteen and  twenty-two  there  were  such  a large  number  of  heroin  victims 
that  the  average  age  of  victims  may  be  fixed  at  twenty-two  years,  and 
that  average  age  is  made  up  in  the  period  of  five  or  six  years — that  is,  the 
years  between  seventeen  and  twenty-two — thus  showing  that  it  strikes  the 
youth  particularly.”  1 

“In  the  recent  New  York  City  Drug  Clinic,  out  of  7,464  addicts  treated 
from  April  10,  1919,  to  January  16,  1920,  sixty-nine  per  cent  were  under 
thirty,  thirty-nine  per  cent  under  twenty-four.”  2 

“New  York  City  is  peculiar  in  its  form  of  drug  addiction,  for  over 
ninety  per  cent  of  its  drug  users  are  addicted  to  heroin,  the  strongest 
and  most  powerful  of  habit-forming  drugs,  the  most  detrimental  in  its 
effect  upon  the  users,  and  the  habit  which  is  most  difficult  to  combat.”  3 

“Most  of  the  heroin  addicts  are  comparatively  young,  a large  portion 
of  them  being  boys  and  girls  under  the  age  of  twenty.  This  is  also  true 
of  cocaine  addicts,  many  of  them,  according  to  reports,  being  mere 
children.”  4 


Heroin  Unnecessary 

“The  heroin  habit  is  the  worst  of  the  drug  evils,  as  it  is  likewise  the 
most  powerful  of  the  habit-forming  narcotics.  Physicians  disagree  as 
to  the  necessity  of  its  use  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  However,  many 
of  them  who  speak  with  knowledge  and  authority  are  in  favor  of  the 
non-use.  As  a habit,  it  is  the  most  difficult  to  cure  and  it  is  so  totally  de- 
moralizing to  the  addict  that  I am  compelled  to  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  public  health  would  be  more  greatly  benefited  by  its  absolute 
prohibition.”  5 

“It  is  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  based  on  the  results  of  its  investi- 
gations, that  the  medical  need  for  heroin,  a derivative  of  morphine  is 
negligible  compared  with  the  evil  effects  of  the  use  of  this  alkaloid  and 
that  it  can  easily  be  replaced  by  one  of  the  other  alkaloids  of  opium  with 
the  same  therapeutic  results  and  with  less  danger  of  creating  habitua- 
tion. Therefore,  consideration  should  be  given  the  subject  of  absolutely 
prohibiting  the  manufacture,  sale,  distribution,  or  administration  of  this 
most  dangerous  drug  by  the  States  and  municipalities.”  6 

1 Page  9,  “The  Drug  Evil  and  the  Drug  Law,”  by  Cornelius  P.  Collins,  former  Judge  of 
the  Children’s  Court.  (Department  of  Health  of  the  City  of  New  York.) 

2 Page  16,  Report  of  the  New  York  State  Narcotic  Drug  Control  Commission. 

3 Page  6,  Report  of  the  New  York  State  Narcotic  Drug  Control  Commission. 

4 Page  24,  U.  S.  Treasury  Report,  Traffic  in  Narcotic  Drugs. 

6 Page  47,  Report  of  the  New  York  State  Narcotic  Drug  Control  Commission. 

0 Page  29,  U.  S.  Treasury  Report,  Traffic  in  Narcotic  Drugs. 

5 


Heroin  Disapproved  by  U.  S.  Army 

“This  office  does  not  approve  of  the  administration  of  heroin  to  any 
member  of  the  military  personnel.  Such  stocks  of  heroin  as  may  be  on 
hand  at  posts,  camps,  stations  or  medical  supply  depots  will  be  destroyed 
and  dropped  from  the  stock  record  account  on  certificate  of  the  medical 
supply  officer.  Heroin  is  no  longer  issued  for  use  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  Army.” 

M.  W.  Ireland,  Surgeon  General, 

U.  S.  Army,  December  29,  1923. 


Heroin  Prohibited  by  U.  S.  Navy 

“I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  further  issues  of  heroin  to  the 
U.  S.  Naval  Service  have  been  prohibited.” 

Surgeon  General,  U.  S.  Navy, 

February  2,  1924. 


Heroin  Banished  from  Public  Health  Service  Hospitals 

To  Commissioned  Medical  Officers, 

Acting  Assistant  Surgeons  and  others  concerned : 

“In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  great  increase  in  the  use  of  heroin  at 
present  constitutes  a considerable  menace  to  public  health  in  the  United 
States,  it  is  desired  to  set  an  example  and  to  signalize  to  the  general 
public  the  danger  which  may  accrue  from  its  use.  Heroin  as  a palliative 
in  certain  respiratory  affections  serves  no  purpose  which  cannot  be  ac- 
complished by  other  agents  fully  as  effectively  and  without  the  attendant 
possibility  of  grave  disaster. 

“You  are  therefore  directed  to  discontinue  dispensing  heroin  and  its 
salts  at  relief  stations  of  the  Service  and  to  send  all  the  stock  of  these 
drugs  now  on  hand  to  the  Purveying  Depot,  1414  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
Northwest,  Washington,  D.  C.,  either  by  parcel  post  or  by  freight  on 
government  bill  of  lading.” 

Rupert  Blue,  Surgeon  General,  U.  S. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  December  2,  1916. 


Resolution  of  the  American  Medical  Association 

“The  House  of  Delegates  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  at  its 
71st  annual  session,  at  New  Orleans,  in  1920,  adopted  the  following 
resolution : 

‘That  heroin  be  eliminated  from  all  medicinal  preparations,  and  that 
it  should  not  be  administered,  prescribed  nor  dispensed ; and  that  the  im- 
portation, manufacture  and  sale  of  heroin  should  be  prohibited  in  the 
United  States’.”  1 

William  C.  Woodward,  Executive  Secretary, 

Bureau  of  Legal  Medicine  and  Legislation. 

1 Page  1318,  The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  May  8,  1920. 

6 


Further  Facts  on  Heroin  from  Further  Medical  Authorities 

“In  view  of  the  fact  that  a question  is  being  raised  as  to  the  possibility 
of  prohibiting  the  manufacture  of  heroin,  the  Sub-Committee  thought  it 
might  give  its  opinion  from  the  medical  point  of  view  and  might  state 
that  the  Mixed  Sub-Committee,  composed  of  technical  experts,  agrees, 
having  regard  to  the  small  therapeutic  value  and  the  harmful  effects  of 
diacetyl-morphine  (heroin),  to  advocate  the  prohibition  of  its  manu- 
facture. Sub-Committee  on  Health  and  Opium 

of  the  League  of  Nations, 

September,  1923. 

“There  can  be  no  question  but  that  heroin  is  not  needed  in  medicine 
and  should  be  entirely  eliminated.  There  is  no  disease  to  my  knowledge 
in  which  heroin  would  be  preferable  to  morphine  or  codeine.” 

Dr.  William  G.  Somerville, 

Chairman  of  Section  on  Mental  and  Nervous 
Diseases  of  the  Southern  Medical  Association, 

December  17,  1923. 

“Heroin  used  by  a human  being  produces  an  un-moral  savage.  The 
boy  or  girl,  man  or  woman,  driven  by  heroin’s  influence  becomes  cold- 
blooded, the  personality  is  inflated  to  a state  of  paranoic  egoism,  and 
the  individual  is  capable  of  committing  any  crime. 

“Heroin  is  not  a necessity  in  either  medicine  or  art.  All  of  its  use- 
ful qualities  can  be  safely  replaced  by  other  alkaloids  of  opium. 

“The  production  of  heroin  should  be  absolutely  prohibited. 

“The  only  way  to  successfully  fight  this  peril  is  through  legislation 
locally — forbidding  its  manufacture,  and  by  international  agreement,  with 
all  nations  participating,  not  only  to  forbid  manufacture  but  to  prevent 
importation  from  or  exportation  to  any  land.” 

Dr.  S.  Dana  Hubbard,  Director, 

Bureau  of  Public  Health  Education, 

New  York  City  Department  of  Health, 

December,  1923. 

“Ninety-four  per  cent  of  the  criminal  drug  addicts  arrested  in  New 
York  City  use  heroin  regularly.  Placing  the  consumers  receiving  their 
drugs  from  the  illicit  narcotic  street  venders  in  New  York  City  at  a 
minimum  of  10,000  (based  upon  arrests’  statistics),  using  at  an  average 
of  ten  grains  a day  per  individual,  we  have  a total  of  76,000  ounces  as 
the  yearly  quantity  of  heroin  used  by  the  narcotic  addicts  who  procure 
their  drugs  on  the  streets  in  New  York  City  alone,  against  fifty-eight 
ounces  computed  as  being  legitimately  prescribed  by  the  entire  medical 
profession  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  estimated  by  our  census  of  14,715 
physicians.  Eighty  per  cent  of  the  physicians  replying  to  questionnaire 
deemed  heroin  unnecessary  to  their  practice.  That  is  why  we  are  trying 
to  find  a way  to  shut  off  this  flow  and  to  stamp  heroin  either  as  an  out- 
law drug  or  if  that  be  not  feasible,  to  place  a terrific  tax  upon  it.” 

Dr.  Carleton  Simon, 

Special  Deputy  Police  Commissioner  in 

charge  of  Narcotic  Division  of  Police 

Department,  New  York  City. 

February  11,  1924. 


7 


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